Is the Edifier Aurora a case of style over substance?

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Our Verdict

For

Against

Controls could be improved

Most PC speaker purchases are made based on aural rather than aesthetic grounds. At least, this was true back in the days when our PCs were kept out of sight in studies.

However, now that our PCs are almost part of the furniture, and can be found in nearly any room of the house, sometimes a little visual flair is appreciated. As long as it doesn't lead to style covering up for a lack of substance, that is.

The Edifier Aurora is a small and striking looking 2.1 speaker system. Despite its stature, it feels weighty and well built.

The two round satellite speakers look good, but it's the long, tubular subwoofer that draws the eye. It might not be to everyone's taste, but it's a distinctive design that's a far cry from the usual black box looks of the average subwoofer.

Thankfully, the sound quality holds up, with the small speakers handling loud sounds incredibly well without distortion. The 15 watt subwoofer might not be able to produce ground-trembling bass, but it does a good job of bringing depth to the sound, and helps this speaker set avoid sounding either thin or tinny.

The one area where it feels like convenience has taken a back seat to style is control. There are only two buttons located on the right-hand satellite for volume tweaking. There are no controls for bass or even to turn the speakers on and off.

Luckily, the levels are pretty good, but it's frustrating to not have complete control over the sound quality from the speakers.

While the slim design makes these speakers look good alongside a laptop, they need to be plugged in to a power source, so they aren't exactly portable.

The Edifier Aurora connects via a standard headphone jack, though, so it's very versatile, enabling you to use it with most PCs, MP3 players and smartphones. Best of all, it sounds as good as it looks.